In situations like this where the demand is so high and the supply is so low, it often creates a black market full of knock offs or, in this case, emulators and pirates. This is compounded in Nintendo's case, since the Wii is apparently very easy for modern PCs to emulate.

I smartly bought two copies of this when I found out about its limited run. I did the same for The Last Story as well (which you can still buy new on Amazon), and probably will do it for the last Operation Rainfall game when it comes out (Pandora's Tower).

I'm not trying to hoard them - I've just learned my lesson when it comes to quirky-but-quality games that no one finds out about until too late. I like having them in case a friend wants to play it but never knew about it until it was unavaiable, or if I get in a financial tiff and need a quick buck.

I started this up from the beginning last night. Maybe it's not being hyped for it, maybe I just needed to take a second whack at it, but I'm enjoying it more this time than last. We'll see if that sticks.

Last night I made it through to the end of the opening in Colony 9, when the first Mechon with a face shows up. It took just shy of four hours with a bit of side-questing thrown in. That's further than I made it on my first attempt, and it goes without saying that I'm enjoying the game a lot more this time than when I first tried to play it.

I still think the combat feels oddly frictionless. It's interesting to compare the combat in Xenoblade to the combat in The Last Story. They both revolve around auto-attacking enemies while issuing commands to your squadmates, but The Last Story's fighting has more oomph to the hits. It might be a matter of sound and animation, or it might be that The Last Story at least requires you to push the left stick toward your enemy to attack rather than Xenoblade's approach of passively moving within striking distance.

What I do really like about Xenoblade's combat are the chained status effects. Breaking and Toppling enemies is fun and interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing what new powers get added.

In any case, I'm glad I gave it a second chance and hope that I continue to enjoy it as I play more.

Oh wow, I didn't realize you didn't even get to the "real" start of the game (the point after the Mechon with a face shows up) last time you tried it.

Yeah, it doesn't really get started until then, IMO.

Yup. I think that's when I tried to encourage her to play through to before, but she just wasn't having any fun with it.

Clocky, I basically agree that The Last Story just simply has better combat. I got to about 25 hours into Xenoblade, and while it certainly gets better as time progresses, I just liked The Last Story's more. However, as stated, the "presentation" of Xenoblade's story, from the "cinematography", to the writing, to the music, all just pulled me in and seemed more polished than The Last Story's.

But in the end, I feel like the only reason comparisons would be made is because they're both a part of Operation Rainfall and are some of the last games on the Wii.

I basically agree that The Last Story just simply has better combat. I got to about 25 hours into Xenoblade, and while it certainly gets better as time progresses, I just liked The Last Story's more.

The Last Story has the only pauseable real-time combat system that I've actually enjoyed playing, so it's head-and-shoulders above pretty much anything out there.

However, as stated, the "presentation" of Xenoblade's story, from the "cinematography", to the writing, to the music, all just pulled me in and seemed more polished than The Last Story's.

Xenoblade is certainly more polished across the board. The tutorials are more clear, the story is (to this point) more coherently told, and in general all the little fiddly bits that make up RPGs (crafting systems, upgrade paths, sidequests) are more clearly presented to the player and more meaningfully integrated into the overall mechanical structure. Also, Xenoblade doesn't have The Last Story's irritating narrator. Every time that guy pipes up, I get sucked right out of the game.

But in the end, I feel like the only reason comparisons would be made is because they're both a part of Operation Rainfall and are some of the last games on the Wii.

It'll be interesting to see how Pandora's Tower is received. I think word has gotten around already that it's the worst-reviewed of the Rainfall games, but it's still going to be judged against Xenoblade and The Last Story, two games with very different goals and approaches—not only from Pandora's Tower but from one another. Operation Rainfall has lumped all three together, but as near as I can tell, it's a bit like arbitrarily lumping Dragon Age, Skyrim, and Dark Souls together.

Yeesh, something like 12 hours down and I'm only now moving into the third major area (Colony 6). I really need to stop going after these sidequests. I finally gave up on a couple of the timed ones on Bionis Leg because I couldn't find the Tirkin Headquarters that everyone was yammering about.

Yeesh, something like 12 hours down and I'm only now moving into the third major area (Colony 6). I really need to stop going after these sidequests. I finally gave up on a couple of the timed ones on Bionis Leg because I couldn't find the Tirkin Headquarters that everyone was yammering about.

I like the challenge quests, actually, and the item collection quests I tend to complete accidentally. I don't know that I've finished a single fetch quest that required me to go back to the quest-giver.

I like the challenge quests, actually, and the item collection quests I tend to complete accidentally. I don't know that I've finished a single fetch quest that required me to go back to the quest-giver.

They did do well in that regard. There is typically very little needless backtracking.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

A giant Cthulu alien just threw the top of Big Ben at Abraham Lincoln's airship.

I like the challenge quests, actually, and the item collection quests I tend to complete accidentally. I don't know that I've finished a single fetch quest that required me to go back to the quest-giver.

They did do well in that regard. There is typically very little needless backtracking.

The only thing that I would have liked for the quests that required you going back to the quest giver was an easy way of doing so/find them. I got lost a lot.

One Texas-based Kotaku reader said GameStops in his area have also recently received shipments of Xenoblade, and that he bought one this weekend. He says the condition is just like new, and that the included Club Nintendo code was unused.

People on message boards like NeoGAF are reporting similar stories, saying their local GameStops have suddenly received pre-owned copies of the game, and that they feel new. Many also say the included Club Nintendo codes were unused.

Back when I managed a Gamestop, we'd sometimes get in shipments of hard to find "used" games. Sometimes these games were shrinkwrapped, and had to be opened to remove the disc to display on the used wall. Gamestop, you so crazy.

Wow, this makes me want to pick up playing Xenogears again now that I know how rare it is! That is, until its released as a download or the HD remake comes out in a few years. I saw at one point the original Etrian Odyssey was going for more than it was new ($30) on Amazon, and now see it is slightly below that due to the impending release of the remake on 3DS. I suspect this to be the cause at least. I guess it is just how long you want to wait.

I picked up Xenoblade on a whim right after it came out (a rarity though for a full price game for me). I probably have 30 or so hours in. I enjoyed it, but certainly not worth $90 "used". I do not regret the full price purchase, unlike my bad experience with Castlevania Lord of Shadow.

Back when I managed a Gamestop, we'd sometimes get in shipments of hard to find "used" games. Sometimes these games were shrinkwrapped, and had to be opened to remove the disc to display on the used wall. Gamestop, you so crazy.

So you're telling us gamestop is intentionally going out of it's way to price-gouge?

I wonder if you could walk into a store, find a copy, look it over to see that it looks essentially new and then say to the clerk, "Tell you what, I'd rather pay new price for this, ring it up that way." and walk out paying a closer to the right amount.

Ok, so the game is in stock almost everywhere around where I live and they dropped the used price $10. Still, this totally reeks of taking new copies and opening them to list as a higher used price. Especially now that the game is in stock all over the place.